Confessions of a realistic pollyanna

April Fool's

This past week was April Fool's day. It is a day when people pull pranks on one another. Looking at Wikipedia- which we hope in this case is somewhat correct- I see that since the time of Geoffrey Chaucer people have played pranks on one another. Why April 1st? There are many different theories as to why this date was chosen and different countries trace the observance to different events. But for whatever reason April 1st will always be associated with being fooled or making other people look foolish.

I am not a big prankster. I watch you tube and I see videos of people sneaking blistering hot peppers into peoples food and laughing at the pain they inflict. To me, that is cruel. It is not funny. However other pranks are less vicious in nature. At university, one night students set up ping pong tables in the reception area of one of the college buildings. They put up signs saying welcome to our new gym. Everyone laughed at that. And someone that same year (well let's be honest, it was me) put food colouring into people's milk. I can actually say that I have eaten green scrambled eggs and ham and survived.

In the past number of years, media and advertisers have got into the spirit of April Fools. This past week, Virgin Australia announced that they would have a kids only cabin. Children could order teddy bears off a menu, could ask the flight attendants to read them story books, were encouraged to kick the seats in front of them, and were issued bubble wands. The commercial was so well done, it got me to thinking, maybe this might be a good idea. A few years ago, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's radio programme, did a very convincing interview with a "scientist" who suggested that Canada should introduce the "threenie" a $3 dollar coin because scientific studies have shown that three was a perfect number. He was so convincing that I was disappointed the next day to find out it was all a hoax.

Some people don't want to be made foolish. They might be too sensitive and feel that people are making fun of them. Others are too serious. How can you laugh when there are so many important things to worry about? Well it is true that there are many important things to worry about, but for many of us, we like to laugh at ourselves. We like the surprises of harmless pranks- oh not all the time, but once a year is ok. It shows that we aren't afraid to be the brunt of the joke. We aren't afraid to be got off guard. It shows we are secure enough to be fooled. Blessings.

In the past number of years, media and advertisers have got into the spirit of April Fools. This past week, Virgin Australia announced that they would have a kids only cabin. Children could order teddy bears off a menu, could ask the flight attendants to read them story books, were encouraged to kick the seats in front of them, and were issued bubble wands. The commercial was so well done, it got me to thinking, maybe this might be a good idea. A few years ago, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's radio programme, did a very convincing interview with a "scientist" who suggested that Canada should introduce the "threenie" a $3 dollar coin because scientific studies have shown that three was a perfect number. He was so convincing that I was disappointed the next day to find out it was all a hoax.

Some people don't want to be made foolish. They might be too sensitive and feel that people are making fun of them. Others are too serious. How can you laugh when there are so many important things to worry about? Well it is true that there are many important things to worry about, but for many of us, we like to laugh at ourselves. We like the surprises of harmless pranks- oh not all the time, but once a year is ok. It shows that we aren't afraid to be the brunt of the joke. We aren't afraid to be got off guard. It shows we are secure enough to be fooled. Blessings.